The Return of the Covenant: The Capture
by Red Drunkard
Summary: In 2761, the Covenant return and launch an attack on Earth. A survivor is chosen to lead the Spartan VII Project, and finds his long lost Spartan brother. Keep telling me how I can improve this story! Presentation, word choice, etc.
1. Prolouge del

Prologue

The year was 2761. It was 209 years since the Covenant attacked Reach and since humanity discovered the existence of Halo. The Covenant has not been seen or heard of for over two centuries. Some speculate they got deeply involved with the Flood and were killed. No one knows for sure.

The SPARTAN-II Project is old news. The SPARTAN-VI's are the new protectors of humanity and, of course, all remaining SPARTAN-V's. The Project is much more mature and suffers less deaths during training due to enhancements. There are 750 Spartans who graduated the Project, and it is said that the next program will graduate even more Spartans.

Earth is still occupied, but fear has lasted the two centuries that the Covenant will return and again try to take Earth. Humanity has moved throughout the rest of the galaxy and has 1,500 worlds occupied now. Earth has been restored to the way it was over 700 years ago. No mass cities covering entire countries; large cities, but larger, spanning open land. The tectonic plates have been wandering and Pangaea is the landmass of Earth.

Reach has not been tampered with. It is still glassed, but a large orbitary museum holds all the knowledge of the Covenant, the past of the SPARTAN Projects, and the story of the Pillar of Autumn's journey to Halo. Tour shuttles fly down above the planet every now and then. 


	2. Attack and Decision del

Chapter 1 

A 14-year-old boy stood outside his house in the country of Enicab, where the rest of North America engulfed most of Mexico. The wind blew at his dark brown hair. He stared at the oncoming storm. For most of his life he had been extremely interested in clouds and storms. But these clouds were like none he had ever seen.

The clouds came directly from the west. They were shaped like a large horizontal U, and they headed straight for Justin.

Justin raised the camera in his hands and adjusted the brightness. He took a picture of the quickly reshaping clouds. He looked down to examine the picture on the screen of the camera. Something wasn't right. He glanced at the clouds, and then back at the picture. A strange light was coming from behind the clouds. When he looked back at the clouds, something was there that wasn't there a few seconds ago. A Covenant capitol ship was descending from the clouds, with hundreds of Banshees around it. Justin was so shocked he couldn't breathe. The only time had seen a Covenant capitol ship, a Covenant ship for that matter, was at the Spartan Museum at Reach he had visited with his parents two summers ago. He had also seen a Scarab when the Covenant attacked New Mombassa in 2552.

As he was looking at the ship, a cannon on the ship started to power up. It shot a plasma stream similar to that of a Scarab. But to Justin's horror, the stream connected with the field behind his house. The blast exploded and both the field and Justin's house were engulfed in flames. Justin thought he had screamed, but he never heard it. His scream was drowned out by the sound of a vehicle roaring over the hill behind him. A jeep came over the hill and sped right past Justin and flew towards the capitol ship.

Another jeep came up over the hill, but it slowed down slightly and a strong armored hand reached out of the passenger seat and lifted Justin right off his feet. The driver spun the jeep around and it sped back the way it came. As they came over the hill, Justin was amazed at what he saw. Thousands of similar jeeps were heading east, all equipped with turrets. Hundreds of tanks slowly made their way to the capitol ship. In the sky, countless UNSC ships were preparing for battle.

Back in his jeep, Justin examined his rescuers. They both wore the same tan-brown armor. They were similar to the videos of Spartans at Reach.

The driver continued to evade oncoming jeeps. The driver had to have extremely good coordination and reflexes or they would have been dead a few times. The jeeps were all finally behind them and the driver had a straight shot at the dropships a few hundred yards ahead of them.

Justin's rescuers jumped out of the jeep as it came to a stop. One of the soldiers still carried Justin. They went to the open back of the Pelican dropship and hopped in. The ship took off and flew away from the battle now brewing.

The dropship met up with a UNSC capitol ship not engaging in the battle, but that didn't mean that the battle hadn't hit there. As Justin's rescuers led him down countless hallways, Justin was able to observe hundreds of squads of Marines running down the halls. Each group was led by one or two of the soldiers similar to the ones who had rescued Justin.

One soldier stayed ahead of Justin to lead him, and one was behind him to make sure he didn't fall behind. Justin had to jog sometimes to keep pace with the soldiers long strides. Everyone Justin saw on the ship was always in a hurry. Finally, the soldier stopped at a door. He pressed a button on the wall, and it opened. He shoved Justin inside the dormitory and said "Stay here," in a deep voice. Then he closed the door. Justin heard it lock as he sat on the bed. After a few moments of silence, Justin began to cry. In a split second, he had lost both his mother and his father, just as he had lost his older brother to a mysterious death when Justin was only 1 ½-years-old. Justin cried himself to sleep.

After an hour, Justin was awoken by the sound of the dormitory door unlocking and opening. Justin sat up on the bed and looked at the same soldier who had rescued him.

"Follow me," the soldier said in his deep voice. He took off and Justin ran out after him, afraid he may get lost on the huge ship. He caught up, and they went down many hallways. There weren't many Marines running around anymore. Justin figured that they were all in the battle.

At one point Justin looked at the floor and saw two arrows on the ground. One pointed right and said 'HANGAR' and the other pointed left and said 'BRIDGE.' The soldier led Justin to the left and they went down an extremely long hallway to what Justin figured was the bridge.

They came to a pair of big steel doors. They opened when they sensed movement and Justin got a look at the bridge of a UNSC capitol ship. There were a lot of computer monitors with a lot of men walking from computer to computer, all talking into comm links. The soldier led Justin to the largest computer. There, a tall man decorated in military medals confronted the two. The man and the soldier saluted each other.

"Admiral Gray," the soldier greeted the tall man.

"Spartan-5819. Hmm. Why have you brought me… a child?" Admiral Gray asked.

"Hey! I'm not a child!" Justin shouted. The soldier put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"He is a survivor of the Covenant attack on Alcandor, Enicab. I rescued him with the help of my driver, of course," the Spartan said.

Admiral Gray looked Justin over. Then he went to his personal computer and looked over what looked like a roster. He examined it, and then returned.

"You and your driver will be rewarded," Admiral Gray told the Spartan, "As for the boy, take him to the _Pillar of Autumn II_. It will be returning to _Threshold Station_. I have something special planned for him."

The Spartan nodded and saluted again. Then he turned and walked towards the door. Justin caught up with him and they walked down towards the hangar.

"So you're an actual Spartan?" Justin asked.

The soldier was silent. Then he said, "Yes."

"So we're actually going on the ship dedicated to the _Pillar of Autumn_?" Justin asked.

Again the soldier was silent. The he said, "Yes."

"So have you been in a lot of batt…"

"You talk too much kid," the Spartan said.

"My name is Justin," Justin replied, "Do you remember your name?"

"Dillon," the Spartan said.

"Mmm. Not my choice for a name, but alright," Justin said, "I had a brother once named Dillon, but he died when I was really young."

Once they got to the hangar, Dillon-5813 took Justin to an Albatross dropship. The dropship fired up its engines. The large steel doors behind them opened up and the dropship flew out of the doors. Justin was amazed to see that they were in space! The dropship maneuvered around and approached a much larger Halycron-class ship that read _Pillar of Autumn II_ on the side of the front.

When they landed, Dillon took Justin straight to the bridge. There were a lot of Marines casually walking about the ship as Dillon and Justin made their long journey to the bridge. Many of the Marines turned and examined Dillon's armor as they passed by.

When they entered the bridge, they walked up to another man with many medals on his chest. Dillon saluted him, too.

"Captain Salisbury," Dillon said.

"Ah, Dillon. So good to see you again. How did that business on Jerichi X go?" Captain Salisbury asked.

"We settled the villagers down before they could do any substantial damage," Dillon replied, "But that's not why I'm here."

"Of course," Captain Salisbury said, "And who is this here?" He looked at Justin.

"I'm Justin," Justin butted in.

"Hello, Justin. I'm the commander of the _Pillar of Autumn II_, Captain Salisbury," Salisbury replied.

"So you're the Captain Salisbury who's related to Captain Jacob Keyes?" Justin asked.

The captain sighed. "Yes. Jacob Keyes was my great-grandfather. And Miranda Keyes was my great-aunt. No one ever really heard of her sister. She never followed her father's footsteps.

"Justin would you excuse us. I need to discuss something with Dillon." Captain Salisbury called a Marine over.

"This is Derrik. He'll be your personal guide for the time you are here. He'll take you to your room and lead you to the mess hall when you get hungry."

Justin nodded. He followed Derrik out of the bridge and down hallway after hallway until they reached the mess hall so Justin could get a hot meal. Justin ate so much he thought he would explode. After that, Derrik took Justin to a dormitory. Justin went in, but Derrik stayed outside.

Justin found a remote and turned on a holo-TV in the corner of the room. The news was on.

"…caused by the Covenant cruiser left hundreds dead and thousands homeless. Many say that if the Spartans not had acted as soon as they did, many more would have died today.

"The battle still continues, but the Covenant is starting to pull back. The Spartans and Marines are pursuing…" Justin turned the holo-TV off. He didn't think he would have been able to take much more of this. He laid down on the bed and fell asleep.

2 hours later, Derrik came in and woke Justin.

"You're wanted at the bridge."

Justin followed Derrik back to the bridge. Captain Salisbury and Dillon were both still there. Out the bridge window, Earth and all her MAC guns sat peacefully. But Justin knew that on the other side of the planet, there was turmoil.

"Justin, we wanted your OK on something," Captain Salisbury said.

"Uhh, sure, on what?" Justin asked.

"We have been discussing Admiral Gray's orders. Do you need anything from Earth before we depart for Threshold?" Salisbury asked.

Justin looked out the window at Earth. His home.

"No," he replied, "There's nothing here for me anymore."

"OK, then. Odysseus! Set course for Threshold," Salisbury yelled to the ship's AI, "Justin, you may go back to your dormitory. It'll be a numer of weeks before we reach Threshold. Dillon, report to Cryo-B for freezing. If anything happens, we'll relocate you or defrost you."

"Understood," Dillon replied. He walked past Justin and said, "Good luck, kid." Then he left. Derrik took Justin back to the dormitory. Over the next few months, Justin mainly sat in his room watching TV or went to the mess hall when he was hungry. Sometimes Justin and Derrik would talk about Derrik's experience in the Corps.

After about 6 weeks in slipspace, the _Pillar of Autumn II_ decelerated. They had arrived at Threshold. Justin looked out his dormitory window. Halo's remains still burned in space. The _Pillar of Autumn_ had returned to Halo.

A large planetary shield had been constructed above Threshold that covered a small part of the atmosphere. The shield was actually a giant space station! The space station orbited Threshold, just like Halo, and always pointed at Halo's remains.

The _Pillar of Autumn II_ pulled around so it also got caught in Threshold's gravity but kept it's distance from_ Threshold Station_. Thousands of other military ships were also in orbit. Derrik led Justin from his dorm to the hangar. Just as they reached the door to the hangar, Captain Salisbury, Dillon, and a small group of Marines approached them from the direction of the bridge.

"Hello, Justin. Have a good trip?" Salisbury asked. Justin shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey, kid," Dillon patted Justin's shoulder. A shiver ran down Justin's spine. Dillon's heavy armor was very cold.

They all loaded up in 2 Pelicans. They left the _Pillar of Autumn II_ and flew in close to _Threshold Station_. Justin examined the giant space station and noticed all the tiny buildings. There were even hundreds of MAC guns on _Threshold Station_, not in orbit like Earth's.

The Pelicans flew around tall skyscrapers until they came up to a large pair of steel doors. As the doors opened, air rushed out of the hangar. The Pelicans flew in, but waited for the doors to close and air to return to the hangar before shutting down and letting everyone out.

Justin followed Captain Salisbury and Dillon. The Marines followed the three of them. Captain Salisbury and Dillon were talking about something, but Justin couldn't hear it; they were talking too quietly.

The group stopped at an intersection of hallways.

"Justin, you follow Dillon down to the Recreational Room for a few minutes while I talk with the commander," Salisbury said. He went left down the hallway and Dillon led Justin right to the Recreational Room. Justin was walking around the room taking it all in. Dillon, on the other side of the room, picked up a basketball. He looked at Justin.

"Hey, kid! Think fast!" Dillon yelled as he hurled the ball right at Justin's head. In less than a second, Justin dove to the floor, just narrowly avoiding the ball that was now imbedded halfway into the wall.

"What the hell?! What were you thinking?! You could have killed me!" Justin angrily yelled.

"But I didn't," Dillon said calmly, "I was checking your reflexes versus your reaction time."

"For what?!" Justin asked.

"For what Admiral Gray planned for you a few months ago," Dillon said.

"What are you talking about?" Justin asked. The strong Spartan remained silent.

Four Marines walked into the room. "Commander Karny wishes to see you," one of them said. Justin looked at Dillon. Dillon moved his head towards the Marines. Three Marines walked out, and the other Marine was examining the ball in the wall. As everyone left, he ran and caught up with the Marines and Justin and Dillon.

The group walked past the intersection and kept going down hallways. The four Marines stopped outside a doorway. Justin followed Dillon in, but the Marines remained outside. The door led to another hallway. They continued down the hallway until they reached another door guarded by two Spartans. Dillon stopped and acknowledged both of them before going inside. Both of the Spartans nodded back. Justin went inside after Dillon.

They were in a large conference room. A small room off the left of the room held a computer with a type of roster program similar to Admiral Gray's. Captain Salisbury and the commander were sitting at the large table in the conference room.

"So you're Justin," Commander Karny said. He looked at Dillon. "Did he pass the test?"

"See for yourself," Dillon said boldly. Commander Karny pressed a button on the table and a holovideo appeared out of a holotube. It was a surveillance recording from the Recreational Room. Dillon threw the ball and Justin dove out of the way. Justin himself was amazed at the speed at which he dove.

"I've seen enough," Commander Karny said.

"What's going on?" Justin asked.

"Justin," Salisbury started, " You've been chosen to lead the Spartan-VII Project."


End file.
